MOSCOW, December 11. /TASS/. There is a real danger that groups similar to the Islamic State (IS, banned in Russia) may emerge in Syria, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said.
"There is a real danger that the Islamic State or similar associations that preceded such groups will become active again. This is a concerning development," he told reporters.
"We don't want the country to become a hotbed of instability, a source of terrorist threats. And the internationally or individually recognized status of this group (the Hay·at Tahrir al-Sham movement banned in Russia) is, of course, very well known. One way or another, this will need to be addressed," Ryabkov added.
On November 27, members of armed opposition groups launched a large-scale offensive against government forces' positions in Aleppo and Idlib Governorates. By the evening of December 7, opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad had captured several major cities: Aleppo, Hama, Deir ez-Zor, Deraa, and Homs. They entered Damascus on December 8, after which Syrian army units withdrew from the city. According to a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry, Assad resigned as president of Syria and fled the country, instructing for the peaceful transfer of power. A Kremlin source told TASS that Assad and his family members had arrived in Moscow and that Russia had granted them asylum on humanitarian grounds.